Guwahati/New Delhi
On Friday, as the buzz of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh having made up his mind to resign given the almost two-month-long violence continuing to singe the State gained ground, hundreds of his supporters, mostly women, converged outside his official residence and held siege not allowing him to proceed to the Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation to the Governor, with whom he had even sought time.
While picture of his torn resignation letter emerged on social media, the Chief Minister also himself took to Twitter to announce: “At this critical juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister. Later, visuals of women protestors outside his residence tearing a copy of his resignation letter also emerged.
Earlier, youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CM’s residence demanding that Biren Singh should not resign. The demonstrators, led by women, even dared police to arrest them, and burnt tyres in the middle of the road to prevent police movement.
“At this critical juncture, the Biren Singh government should stand firm and crack down on troublemakers. We do not want the CM to resign, he should not resign. He is doing a lot of work for us. We are giving support to the CM,” the CM’s supporters said.
After women leaders came out of the CM’s residence and told the crowd that the CM has assured them that he is not resigning, the mob slowly dispersed from his residence.
Biren Singh’s move to tender his resignation came even as incidents of violence continued to take place in the troubled State.
The toll in exchange of fire between security forces and suspected rioters in Kangpokpi district a day before, rose to three on Friday, with one more person succumbing to injuries in hospital, officials said.
Armed rioters had opened unprovoked firing at Haraothel village on Thursday. The Army said security forces personnel “responded in a calibrated manner” to tackle the situation.
More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far.
While Opposition parties like the Congress have demanded the immediate removal of Chief Minister and even slammed the Prime Minister for his silence on the Manipur turmoil, Biren Singh has been facing dissent from within the State BJP and his Ministerial colleagues too.
Rahul Concludes 2-Day Visit
As he concluded his two-day visit to Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Governor Anusuiya Uikey and later appealed to all sections of the society for peace saying “violence is no solution”. “Peace is the way forward and everybody should now talk about peace and start moving towards it. I am here and will help in any way I can to bring peace to this state,” he told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan.
“I share the pain of the people of Manipur. It is a horrible tragedy. It is extremely sad and painful for all the people of Manipur and the people of India as well,” he said. The Governor assured that steps are being taken to restore peace.
On his visit to various relief camps in Imphal, Churachandpur and Moirang and his meetings with people from all communities, he said: “One of the things I would say to the government is that the basic amenities at the camps need to be improved. Food needs to be improved. Medicines need to be supplied. Such complaints have come from the camps.”
Earlier during the day, he met members of Manipur civil society organisations here and listened to their problems. He also visited two relief camps at Moirang in Bishnupur district.
